Conventionally, the nitrogen utilized for such purposes was obtained by cryogenic means at considerable cost. More recently, therefore, attempts were made to utilize nitrogen produced by methods more economical than the cryogenic process, for example, by the passage through diaphragm membranes or by pressure-swing adsorption (PSA).
Nevertheless, the nitrogen so obtained presents the drawback of impurity, containing as it does small fractions, between 0.1% and up to about 5% of oxygen, with decisively deleterious effects on the pieces submitted to such heat treatment. Therefore, numerous procedures have already been proposed to reduce and/or eliminate the content in oxygen or oxidant derivative substances, such as water and carbon dioxide, in nitrogen produced by noncryogenic methods, so as to purify the latter and if need be combine it with reducing additives, such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which exert a beneficial effect on the heat treatment process.
As an example, WO-A-93 21 350 describes an endothermal catalytic process, wherein hydrocarbons are made to react to oxygen contained in the nitrogen impurities, in a reactor chamber containing conventional nickel oxide catalysts, or catalysts based on noble metals, essentially resulting in the formation of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in preference to undesirable oxidizing compounds. Notwithstanding the presence in heat treatment furnaces of heat exchangers designed to preheat the gas intended to react in such a reactor, it is nevertheless necessary to supply heat from the outside, in order to activate the partial oxidation reaction of hydrocarbons with oxygen. On the whole, therefore, the economics of the process are adversely affected by the need to provide pre-heating exchangers and supply large quantities of outside heat.
EP-A-0 603 799 describes a process for the catalytic conversion of oxygen included in non-cryogenic nitrogen, by means of hydrocarbons, so as to determine--in view of the low temperature of a suitable conversion reactor--the formation of fully oxidized water and carbon dioxide. These are then converted into reducing compounds by re-forming reactions with excess hydrocarbons present in the heat treatment furnace. Nevertheless, the kinetics of the reforming reactions is decisively slow at typical operating temperatures of such furnaces, so much so that to arrive at desirable compositions, it is necessary to provide extended dwelling times, forced gas recycling systems and the like, thus limiting the practical applicability of the process.
EP-A-0 692 545 describes a catalytic system based on noble metals, in which impure nitrogen produced by non-cryogenic means is made to react directly with hydrocarbons. To secure preferential formation of reducing agents, it is necessary to work at high temperatures, requiring outside heat input, which again has a negative effect on the economics of the process.